Exchanges in the Endgame (and why they mustn’t be taken lightly)

July 2, 2020 NHaselton Uncategorized

Hanging PawnsThu, July 2, 2020 5:37pmURL:
Embed:

😎 Become a Patron (extra daily content): https://www.patreon.com/hangingpawns
🎥 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hangingpawnstv
💲 Support the channel: https://www.paypal.me/HangingPawns
👕 Chess merch!: https://teespring.com/stores/hanging-…
♘ Follow me on lichess (write, ask, challenge): https://lichess.org/@/hpy

In this video I have tried to highlight the importance and the influence of each exchange you make in the endgame.

When the material gets reduced down, each piece trade becomes more and more influential, and by trading pieces you keep changing the nature of the position. Whether the resulting position is in your favor or not, should be known before you initiate or accept a trade.

There are general rules when it comes to endgames (bishops are better when there are pawns on both sides of the board, knights when the pawns are on one side, rooks belong on open files, passed pawns are more powerful when they are apart, etc.), and knowing them will make the decision making much easier.

I used four very different positions to explain the importance and the influence of trades. I hope this helps!

#chess

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

<div id="puzzlebot-container"></div>

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.polyfills.min.js"></script>

<script>
  var board = null;
  var game = new Chess();

  function onDragStart(source, piece, position, orientation) {
    // do not allow dragging when game is over
    if (game.game_over()) return false;

    // only allow white pieces to be dragged
    if (piece.search(/^b/) !== -1) return false;
  }

  function onDrop(source, target) {
    // see if the move is legal
    var move = game.move({
      from: source,
      to: target,
      promotion: "q" // always promote to a queen for example simplicity
    });

    // illegal move
    if (move === null) return "snapback";

    // update the board position
    board.position(game.fen());

    // get a random move from the engine
    window.setTimeout(makeRandomMove, 250);
  }

  // make a random move
  function makeRandomMove() {
    var possibleMoves = game.moves();

    // game over
    if (possibleMoves.length === 0) return;

    var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleMoves.length);
    game.move(possibleMoves[randomIndex]);
    board.position(game.fen());
  }

  // initialize the chessboard
  function init() {
    var config = {
      draggable: true,
      onDragStart: onDragStart,
      onDrop: onDrop,
      position: 'start'
    };

    board = Chessboard('puzzlebot-container', config);

    makeRandomMove();
  }

  $(document).ready(init);
</script>